University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Not Noticed
February 16, 2012 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Feb. 16, 2012
By Adam Lucas
CORAL GABLES--Kendall Marshall is too polite to bristle.
That's what most of us do when we hear a comment directed at us we don't like, or when someone asks a question that frustrates us.
Marshall is too mature and too poised to allow himself to react that way. But watch him closely, really watch him, and you can very rarely detect some irritation.
Carolina had just polished off a 73-64 road win at Miami Wednesday night, a game in which Marshall had nine assists (the Tar Heels are now 20-0 in his career when he has at least nine assists) and helped hold the Hurricanes starting backcourt to 3-of-9 shooting in the second half. Carolina limited the `Canes to 35.5% shooting in the second half. It was a good enough performance that Roy Williams reeled off a series of important factors--"Harrison (Barnes) was big to say the least, as was Kendall's passing"--but eventually arrived back at this conclusion: "Our defense was the thing that helped us."
Marshall was a big part of that defensive effort. The point guard has occasionally been maligned for his defense, but with the Tar Heels largely assigning Reggie Bullock to Durand Scott, Marshall had to guard the streaky Malcolm Grant, and helped limit him to 1-of-6 in 19 minutes.
Here is the first question Marshall received when he met the media after the game:
"How frustrating is it as a team when the shots aren't going in?"
He was not even fully dressed yet, and already people were wanting to know not how Carolina won the game, but how the Tar Heels didn't win the game by more.
Now, let's be realistic: shots did not fall consistently. Carolina shot 38.2% for the game and 5-for-18 from the three-point line. Those are not typically winning numbers. But it was the third straight road game the Tar Heels shot less than 40 percent from the floor and still posted a victory, and the head coach had already identified defense as the key to the game. So, what does that tell us?
For Marshall, at least, it told him the defense has been very solid. Carolina's guards will get most of the attention, because they thwarted any Miami attempt to get into a second half rhythm, but the defensive effort was also solid in the paint, where Reggie Johnson managed just 3-of-7 shooting, continuing a pattern of fairly nondescript performances against the Tar Heels.
"The biggest part is that I try to contain him and keep him off the boards," said Tyler Zeller, who spent most of his night battling Johnson and the rapidly improving Kenny Kadji. "And then John does a great job of coming in and grabbing the rebounds. Reggie is great at wedging his way onto the glass, and John's length keeps him from doing that."
Henson also made a potentially game-changing block after Miami had three attempts to tie the game with 8:29 remaining, erasing what appeared to be a point-blank Johnson shot before Barnes rattled in a three-pointer at the other end.
With Johnson largely eliminated from the half court offense, it was up to the Carolina backcourt to control the action. Before the game, Williams wrote a simple statement on the locker room whiteboard: "Take pride in guarding your man."
In the first half, the Tar Heels were sometimes too passive on ball screens, once going under the screen and then completely failing to recover, leaving Grant wide open for a three-pointer. The Hurricanes averaged 1.17 points per possession in the first 20 minutes. In the second half, that figure dropped to 0.91 points per possession.
"Defense is always going to be the difference," Marshall said. "In the first half, we didn't do a great job of stopping them. They were getting points or something good out of every time down court. In the second half, we cut down on their second chance opportunities, got steals and got out in transition."
After Miami took a 44-36 lead with 15:37 remaining in the game, Carolina countered with one of those rare made shots--a Barnes three-pointer. Then, the Tar Heels forced four turnovers in a row and five turnovers in the next eight possessions. By the time that stretch was over, Carolina had completed a 15-4 run in four minutes to seize a 51-48 lead that they never relinquished.
The defensive intensity change was noticeable. Not necessarily because of the results, but because the entire complexion of Miami's offense changed. Suddenly, they were encountering some resistance. They'd run their ball screen-heavy offense freely in the first half. Now, they were having problems initiating any sets.
"We were being the aggressors defensively instead of letting them come off the pick and roll," Marshall said. "Personally, I tried to focus on picking them up at half court or in the back court. We wanted to make them start their offense farther out. Everybody did a great job of getting in the passing lanes."
Over the first 11 minutes of the second half, while Carolina was surging into the lead, starting Miami guards Durand Scott and Malcolm Grant attempted only a combined two field goals and did not attempt a free throw. Without them, the Hurricanes struggled. The Tar Heel defense had seized the game and, in the process, kick-started the offense. Steals turned into layups and three-pointers.
That, it was obvious, was what Marshall felt was the story of the game. So, yes, he dutifully answered all the questions about Carolina's offensive struggles. But it didn't change his opinion of the underlying theme of the road win his team had just captured. After almost everyone cleared away from his locker, he pondered the divergence in his thoughts on the game as compared to what he'd just been asked about.
"It's annoying," he said. "This whole year it feels like all we've been battling is what's wrong with us. But we're also 21-4. We're doing something right."
On this night, everyone in the Carolina locker room seemed to recognize exactly what that "something" might be.
"It was a great road win," said Bullock, who was terrific in eliminating Scott's penetration during the decisive part of the second half. "Our defense won us the game. It's fine if no one wants to notice until later. If we keep playing defense like this, we will prove we're one of the best teams in the country."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of six books on Carolina basketball, including the official chronicle of the first 100 years of Tar Heel hoops, A Century of Excellence, which is available now. Get real-time UNC sports updates from the THM staff on Twitter and Facebook.
